Focus On The Fruit

getting happy in quarantine. Pray for us. We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords. We came to crown him today. How many came to crown him? Take about twelve seconds and find the crown emoji. Just let everybody in the chat. No, this is what I came to do, to worship him, to declare the praises of him who called me out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Well, I think we've got comments from people saying that right now all over the world. In Brazil. What was the

name of that I missed it? Pasit Pause it Ukraine, keep it going. This is where we speak life today. We speak life, we speak life, we speak blessing. Posit, pose it, pose it, let it roll. I don't see any Spain. I see Spain. I see pose it, posit, pos it. All right, let it run again. I see I see posit. I see Columbia, Columbia with a oh, Chris, don't get too happy. This ain't Carolina. This is you got to have your passport Columbia. Welcome all over the world.

Thank you Jesus. It is release weekend. This is the This is the day that we declare the life of God to every situation. And I don't even care what it is. It might stink where you are, just like it stunk where Lazarus was. The stink doesn't scare Jesus. He is attracted to what others back away from. So I know some of you haven't had your shower yet, you didn't brush your teeth, But that's all right. God doesn't care about your bad breath. Let everything that hath breath,

minty breath, fresh bread, bad bread. If you got breath, if he lets you see another day, shout aladd that's my best. That's I'm getting back to bases. I'm getting back to basics. Co the hole, tell them all, come liey co hey, come live, co author of life. We give you praise today. We returned back the breath that you gave us as a gift, and we all for it. We offer you this breath, We offer you a thought.

We offer you our hearts. We don't feel like they're very worthy, but you said you wanted to live there. We don't feel like our praise is very magnificent, but you said you wanted to inhabit it. So come and do that now. God. Somebody said I'm watching church, but they were wrong. They're not watching anything when they worship You and the beauty of holiness. You set up shop, if it's in a kitchen, if it's on a futon, if it's on a porch. Trying to get some vitamin D.

Thank you Jesus, I speak another vitamin D deliverance. God, would you set the captives free today? Do what only you can do. I don't know what they need, and even if I did, I don't have it to give. But you do, Lord. I pray that that would be the testimony of every person today when when we get into this word, that their spirit would agree with what is spoken, come into alignment with your purpose for our lives. I thank you for what I feel standing in an

almost empty room. I feel the fullness of your presence, and right now I confer my faith to join with my brother, my sister, that they would feel your presence in that room, even if it's a hospital room, even if they're in a prison cell. God, your word can go anywhere. Your word can do anything. Nothing is impossible for you, So do the impossible, the unimaginable. We give you all that we are. We focus our hearts on you, not on the diagnosis, not on politicians or governments or

bills or people who get on our nerves. We came to worship you, and we honor your presence in Jesus' name. And everybody in the chat, come on, y'all, break the chat. Say amen, Say amen in all caps. I wonder can we break YouTube today? I want to? I want to see how if we can shut down YouTube today. I want to get who owns YouTube? I want to? I want huh. I want to get Google out their bed to see what happened to our YouTube today? Oh no, they're having church. They can't contain us, you know, they

never could. They can't lock us down or lock us out. So here we are here, You are here, I am. What's up? How you do? And take another bite of your bagel and get ready for the Word of God. How many are grateful that he turns graves into garters? What else does he do? He turns mourning to dance in what you say that you can cry a tear but still have a testimony. Absolutely, my tears are my testimony. He wept with me. He is the god who sees and knows. Y'all need to sit down, feel I feel

so spontaneous. If y'all don't get a stool, we're never gonna get to the word. Welcome to week three of a series called Looking Forward to Normal, And I feel this one in my bones. I'm already sweating right through my limited edition exclusive Graves into Gardens jacket. Don't even ask where you can buy it. It is not for sale. This is special, This is the pastoral edition, This is the founder's right, and we do just want to make

sure that you're listening to these songs. You know, one of the things that I'm gonna speak about today and just a moment, go ahead and grab your Bible if you have one around, and this would be a good time to get one with pages from trees because it'll help you focus, and that's going to be important for

my message today. You'll see. Really, that's what we're talking about is focus, looking forward to normal, and what you focus on right now determines whether you will go forward or whether you're just going to repeat the same old dead routines, repeat the same old disgusting stuff. God is helping you keep your New Year's resolutions right now because you were so busy and distracted. So he said, well, here, I'll help you out real quick. What if I just unplug all of the other stuff and then we can

get some things right. And you know, I was praying that, like God, what is it that is good that you want to do in this situation, because I'm just being honest. It made me cry last night to watch our videos, which you can go see right now on YouTube shame Less plug. Oh yeah, I plug stuff. I believe in.

I plug stuff with a purpose. Somebody put it in the chat, plug it with a purpose, pastor plug it with a purpose, pastor touch seventeen people and you know, I was watching those videos from the night that we recorded Graves into gardens and we sang my test simony and available. It's my prayer that my life would be an offering. And the spirit of God just swept through this room. And you know, our church has twenty physical locations and watch parties Danny all around the world, not

just in Charlotte, but all over the world. Our family spans the globe. And it made me so sad to think about not being able to beat together and sing rattle. I felt like Billy Corgan said, I'm a rat in a cage. You know, despite all my praise, I am still just a rat in a cage something like that. And I just felt like, God, let the people come. Why can't they all be together? You know, this is our family. I really do love being with my church.

And yet I found out that a lot of times when God doesn't let you out of a certain situation, when you want to come out, there's something that He wants to bring in to you that can never be taken away. So I started praying, maybe this seven weeks, eight weeks, nine weeks, ten weeks, however long it goes, that we're meeting like this and just finding a way to have church. Even if we can't hug each other, all we can do is put hearts on a chat

on a screen or something like that. Maybe God is showing us that his presence is not limited to a physical location. And maybe the same way we're having church in our homes right now, we won't just have on Sunday. But maybe this is going to be a training ground for us to learn how to just have church anywhere we are. God is where you are. Yeah, you don't go to a place where God is. How stupid is

that he's omnipresent? You think God's like keeping a desk somewhere in a corner office, like an old college professor on Sundays, come by, you know, like God's an old man in a nurse and home. I wish you'd come see me more. No, God is energy. God is spirit. God is a molecular structure that feels all in all. That's what it means to say that Christ was from the beginning. So since he's eternal and he's not bound by time or by location, since he can move with

the cloud or move with the fire. Since God is always moving, that means he can visit and inhabit anywhere that we choose to give him praise. Thank you Jesus. I haven't read my scripture yet, So now what we want to do in this third week? And I don't think this will be the final week. I really don't think we're going to leave this teaching for a long time looking forward to know normal? What if normal is

not back there? What if normal isn't stressed out, you know, like you were three months ago, like you have been for the last three years. What if normal is something you've never known? What if there is a joy unspeakable and full of glory in the Holy Ghost? What if people of faith aren't weird? What if we're the ones who got it. Right time I turn on the news, they're talking about how an invisible virus is shutting down the visible world and everything we can see is affected

by something we can't see. Well, that's what the scripture has been saying all along, right, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not see. I don't see it, but I believe it. I can't point to it, but I know it on the inside. And so this is an excellent time go to Philippians Chapter one, to pull out some of these scriptures that help us to see that the kingdoms of this world

are meant to shatter. Excuse me, I can't multitask. I was trying to turn and talk at the same time. The kingdoms of this world and the kingdoms of our God do not have much in common. What Romans twelve called the patterns of this world the way that we get used to doing things. How if somebody offends us, we offend back, and then we get offended. Oh I got offended. Well that was a dumb thing to do. Why would you get that? But they offended me? No, no, No,

offense is an event. Offended is a decision, So why would I make a decision? These are the ways of the world. If you offend me, I'm going to be offended. The Kingdom of God, the renewing of our mind, says you can bring me an offense. One time I preached the message where I built a fence on the stage and I said, you can either drive it into the ground and create separation, or you can drop it. And that's really weird to the world until you realize that

God's ways actually work. Who would have thought he actually knew what he was doing when he made you. And if you made you a little weird, if he wired you a little differently, if you're wired a little different. I was telling them. We came out and had church before church, and I almost spilled my starbucks all over the stage, broke a stool. We were singing rattle, and I told him everybody is telling me that the song the Blessing makes them cry, and I was like, I

guess I'm weird because rattle makes me cry. I don't know, Mom dropped me? When did you drop me? Because something got wired wrong in my head. You're not supposed to cry singing open the grave I'm coming out, but I do. I cried when we were riding it, and I cry when I hear it. And so somebody put in the chat I'm wonderfully weird, And don't look at the person next to you and say you sure are. If you're sitting on the couch with somebody, I don't want any

strife in the home. But look at this. Paul was weird. And what was weird about Paul? He wrote Philippians. What was weird about Paul was that he had this ability to come unicate uncertainty and confidence in the same breath, in the same letter. And that was what was weird, because he would say something and he would sound so courageous, and then he would say something else about how his situation was so unstable. And I want to show you

a passage that I really love. If I were your waiter, I would tell you that this message pairs well with a message that I've preached a while back, called choosing your change, and it's available for you right now. But as I'm finding lately, these messages and these passages are taking on a new relevance to me. That's what the Word of God is. Alive and active, That's what it means. It means like as your life changes, God's word doesn't change,

but your perspective does. So you have the ability to look at a situation that you used to say, man, that was unfair. Three years later you're like, I am so glad that they'd and keep me around. You look at a situation on one hand and go, that was the worst week of my life. You look at it a few months ago, you go, I learned a lesson from that. Oh, I wouldn't trade that lesson for anything. And so today, let me give you just one verse

to start with. I want to read a lot of verses, so clear your calendar, Okay, check, and now listen to this one verse. And there's really something about it that took me by surprise. In Philippius, Chapter one, verse twenty two, Paul says, if I am to go on living, if I thought no weapon formed against you will prosper Isaiah fifty four to seventeen. Paul, didn't you read Isaiah fifty four or seventeen? Paul's like, yeah, man, me and Isaiah are peers. We both were both writing the Bible. He

just wrote it a few centuries ago. But yet he is introducing now y'all listen. You got to listen with your spiritual ears. Because you're physical ear. Drums are blown out because we were we were just rocking up here. But listen with your spirit he said, if I am to go on living, I don't know how this will turn out. How many feel that way about something in your life right now? I don't know how this is going to turn out. It is inconclusive. The ruling on

the field is under review. They put me in this prison for preaching the gospel I didn't sell dope, I didn't hurt anyone. I was just trying to help. And here I am imprisoned. I believe Paul was under house arrest in Rome. That's kind of where his ministry concludes in Acts Chapter twenty eight. There is debate about which imprisonment that Paul was facing when he wrote this letter to the Philippians. But one thing we know is that he was in prison, and the other thing we know

is that he saw a purpose in it. So since Paul has this perspective to offer us today, let's ask him about what is important to him as he sits in a prison cell, and maybe we need to make it applicable to us. Okay, we're most of us. We're not exactly locked up, but we're locked down right now. And I don't even mean whether or not you can go get your nails done, or you know, whether or not you're allowed to visit your barber, or whether or not you're going into the grocery store without wearing a

beekeeper suit. I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that most of us are are trapped inside of what we don't yet know in this transition. And so since Paul is awaiting whether or not they're going to kill him for preaching Christ or let him live. I want to hear what this preacher has to say. Somebody say, preach it, Paul. It doesn't get any better than this. The apostle Paul is the guest preacher at Elevation Church

this weekend. So he says, if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not No. Wow, he doesn't say that much. Did you hear what Paul said? You better underline this because you're not going to hear him say it much much more. He doesn't say this many times he said, I do not know, and I wish somebody was honest enough to put it in the chat. I do not. No. You think the four words that

express the greatest faith are God will come through. No, that's not it. You think the four greatest words of FAI are he can do anything that's for right, for he can give you. You think the four greatest words of faith are you know, I trust in God. But sometimes all of those are fine. By the way, Sometimes the greatest statement of faith you can make is when Paul said, I'm waiting on a verdict. I'm in this quarantine prison, I'm in this I'm in this situation, and

it's uncertain what will happen. And the church at Philippi remembered they love Paul. They love Paul way more than Elevation church loves me because Paul was a better pastor, and and they love him so much. He started the church at Philippi, and now they're having to to make it without his physical presence. Yes, they're having to make it without the person who taught them the gospel. They can't be together. And so he's backing up to tell them, let me give you a report on how I'm doing,

you know with me. Let me give you a report on how things are going in the prison Philippians, Chapter one, verse twelve. Remember he started the church at Philipi. But now things have taken a turn for the worst. And it's uncertain. Somebody, it's uncertain in your life right now. It's uncertain about when certain things are going to kick back in. It's uncertain about whether or not you're gonna

be able to meet this need. It's uncertain about whether or not life is going to get back to normal, y'all. I don't know if we'll ever hug people again who don't have our last name. I'm hoping kind of not. I don't like the hug anymore. But I don't know. And that's what Paul says. But listen. The way that he models for us confidence in the face of uncertainty is a lesson that I think can change your life. The title of this lesson is called focus on the fruit.

You ready, focus on the fruit. And since the message starts with focus, if you need to close the chat to listen to me, do it. If you need to give your kids a shot of niquill early in the morning to listen to me, listen to me. Focus on the fruit. All over the world, the gospel is bearing fruit right now as I speak. The Word of God does not return void, No, it never does. It accomplishes what He sends it to do. But you've got to focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. There's no

title coming up behind me on screen. You are the production team today. Put right there in the chat. If you haven't closed it, put focus on the fruit. That's the word of the Lord today. God. I'm excited about it because Paul starts with telling the church at Philippi

about the events that have transpired since he last saw them. Now, remember Paul wasn't able to post this on Facebook, so it's going to take a while for them to get the correspondence through something that's way slower than the United States Postal Service. Paul has to get them this message and they have to wait to receive it. The man of God is trying to give him a message, but they have to wait to receive it. The Man of God is trying to give him a message, but they

have to wait to receive it. While you're waiting, learn to worship. It is the worship that you offer God while you are waiting that will prepare your heart for the word. That's what tills the soil. When I offer God praise in my heart while I'm waiting, That's what makes me ready and receptive for what he speaks. So some of us are so anxious for God to do something, but often in those seasons of transition, he's tilling the ground.

Who is this for? He breaks up our heart and heart in waiting seasons as we praise Him by faith and Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, Thank you Jesus says, now, I want you to know brothers and sisters. I want you to what No, I want you to know brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually somebody say actually, like you're arguing, say actually what had happened was actually what's going on. So there's certain things that are a parent. But what if what is a

parent isn't what is actual? You see what I'm saying. I just want to read the Bible slow because I've got nothing else to do. He said, Actually, this is what's actually happening. Physically speaking, what's happening is I mean chains locked up or on house arrest. Physically speaking, I'm not able to preach outside of these walls. Physically speaking, I'm quarantined. Physically speaking, some things are going on right now in my bank account. But actually it has served

to advance the gospel. If you are a note taking nerd, write down that the word advance means to make headway despite severe blows. This is the kind of progress that isn't pretty. This is like me doing squats. I'm not doing it so my face can look pretty. I'm doing it so my muscles can grow. So this may not be the prettiest part of my life, but by faith, I believe it's going to be the most productive. The most productive parts of your life will not be the prettiest.

The greatest miracles in your life will come in the middle of the biggest mess. Am I anointed? Or did I take too much? CAF mean? He said, actually, what happened? And he doesn't go into this long, long, long, long list of events, Holly, he doesn't go into like a long list of events. Some of us are more verbose than others. Like when Holly tells me what happened in her day, it takes her more word counts because she's she's smarter to get it done. She's like, she's like paragraphs,

and I'm like sentences. And Paul Paul doesn't even give them a sentence. On his condition in prison, food sucks, y'all pray for me. It's loud here. He doesn't. He doesn't give him a single sentence. I wonder why. I wonder, by this point in his life, does he have his priority straight to know that what is happening in me is always more important than what's happening to me. I wonder do I have it straight. Not really not yet. I'm still conformed to the pattern of this world. I'm

still acted upon by external events. You know, if I feel it, I believe it. Well, Paul's past that. Paul's like, Look, I can sit here and tell you all about prison blah blah blah. I've been here so many times before. It's not even me worth wasting the papyrus that I would write it on. I only got so much scroll, and I don't want to take up the time telling

you how bad my day was. I don't want to spend so much time just thinking about and talking about and guessing about all this stuff that I can't control. So what I want to focus on instead is the fruit and what has happened to me get this. Beneath the surface, God is growing something greater than our minds can imagine. Something's happening in the soil. Something is happening in the soil. Something is taking root in your heart right now, in this season of my life, God is

giving me a root system. In this season of my life. God is teaching me to focus. In this season of my life, remember, I'm looking forward to normal. God is pruning some stuff out of my life right now to make me ready for what's next. Can I get one witness in this room that God is rooting me, establishing me so that I can bear more fruit. Well, we like the fruit, right, but the roots kind of boring, kind of not too sexy, kind of ugly when you get down to it. You ever put roots in a

vase and handed them to somebody for Valentine's Day? Now, one, what's on the other side? We all want what's on the other side, on the other side of the Red Sea. I'm gonna give you praise Lord God. When we get back to church. I saw y'all on Instagram. I've been going through your Instagram post everybody that tagged me or Elevation Worship singing a song. I scrolled through them. Ask Abby, ask Graham. We spent three hours last night just scrolling

through y'all. Some of y'all couldn't sing on key, but we still enjoyed seeing you sing these songs. I saw so many people say when we get back to church, oh man, watch out, well, why wait? Why wait? I thought you were church. I thought the Holy Spirit lived in you. Jordan, if you were at Riverwalk, you'd be standing up shouting me down. Why you need a crowd to shout me down? I thought the spirit of God lived in you. So now look, we love to shout

over fruit, but fruit without root doesn't last long. I want something sustainable in my life. I want not only the blessing of God, but I want him to build me up so that I can bear up under it. I want to yield my fruit in season in season, in season in season. There is a time for everything, Solomon said, there is a season to mourn. So if you're mourning right now, that's the root. But you will rejoice in the morning, that's the fruit. And I'm not

focused on what I'm going through. I'm focused on what God is doing through and focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit, Focus on the fruit. How was your week? Well, it depends what part about it do you want to know? When I almost strangled my kids or when I hugged them. I did both, the part where I was walking around the house cussing under my breath or the part where I was singing Man. Because from the same mouth the fruit of lips that profess his name and the fruit

that will tell you other stuff too. So listen out of this this great season of uncertainty, somebody put put again in the chat, I do not know you are allowed to say that. I don't know what makes people think that preachers know stuff that we don't know. People will ask me the weirdest stuff. If a cat dies in the middle of the night and the owner went to church the day before it, would it get to heaven or does it have to pray? I don't know

about your cat. In the Book of Revelations, where it talks about the horse and the Da Da Da and the heavens and the earth and decide, I said, I didn't break open the scroll. The lamb did that. I didn't. I'm not the lamb. I'm a dumb sheep like you. You you e w eu insdeed y'all wake up. We don't have law. And so knowing that I don't know what a powerful what a powerful concept. Knowing that you don't know makes you open to wisdom. Knowing that you

don't know. I talked to Craig Grochelle yesterday about when church is going to open, and this and that and the other, and all the states are different, and I don't know if our governor is ever going to let us out the house again or not. But certain states in the United States of America open up. Certain nations are more open than others, and we're all on different ways dealing with coronavirus. If you're watching this in a time capsule. In twenty thirty two, things were weird. This

was not like elevation. Church had a bad growth season. We weren't allowed to come okay, But I was like, what do you think, man? Another month, another six months, another twelve months where we go to church and come back to D D D D. And we went back and forth, just talking, just burning up our data plan,

talking to each other. And finally I said, do you know what the most small ardest thing that we've said, the most smartest thing we said on this whole call was when you said, three minutes ago, I don't know, that's the smartest thing either of us have said. And so here's what's really cool about right now. We are all idiots at the same time. We are all equally ignorant of what comes next. Nobody's got a crystal ball. I know your uncle's cousin's friend worked for the Pentagon.

Shut up hearing from everybody. When my dad went to college with doctor fouche, shut up. Nobody knows. Paul didn't know. Nobody knows. Are my kids ever going to have a real teacher again? Nobody knows. Then they might send them to school, and they might send them back right, Nobody knows when is the Nobody knows, Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody.

All the depths of the wisdom of the riches and knowledge of God, how insearchable is passed beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been as counselor. This is Romans eleven, right before Romans twelve, where it says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He says, Oh, the depths of the wisdom of the riches and knowledge of God, how unsearchable his pathways? Beyond tracing out? Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who knows not me, not me, not

you not Paul. Paul always had an answer. You know, he was one man said he was seldom he was. He was often wrong, but seldom in doubt. Do you know anybody like that? That was Paul. Paul always knew And look you can to see him. He starts this passage, he says, I want you to know brothers and sisters verse twelve, and then by the time he gets to verse twenty two, he says, I do not know, So how are we supposed to know if you don't even know? Right? I love this because the truth is in the tension

hermeneutical principle one oh one. The truth is in the tension. So the presence of faith does not eliminate uncertainty. In fact, it operates by uncertainty. Can I preach like I? Like I saw it in the text? He said, I want you to know that the Gospel is going forward. That's the important thing, And as a result, it has become clear verse thirteen throughout the whole palace. Guard Wait a minute, Wait a minute. He's talking about clarity, but he's still

not defining the outcome. His clarity is not about the outcome. His clarity is about God's presence in the process. What a word. I'm focused on what God is doing in me right now. I can't control what politicians do. I can't control how long this prison sentence is. There is something outside of my control. But this is what I told Elijah in the Pound the other day. Graham, I'm giving him life lessons, and I think this has to

be number one. Just if you strip it all away, and I don't even need a Bible verse for this, but if you strip it all away, this is what I taught him. The only thing you can really control is your focus. What you're gonna do, make it sonny, what you're gonna do, make it rainy, what you're gonna do, make people nicer, You're gonna make people stop being crazy. What are you gonna do. You're gonna do. You're gonna pray away the virus. Look, man, I'm praying just as

hard as anybody for stuff that I can't control. That's all I can do. But what I can control is my focus. I can control my focus. Not me pastro feurdics, feuritic. I can't control my focus. I'm a ADHD. I'm not. I am not talking about physical focus. I'm talking about emotional focus. I'm talking about spiritual focus. I'm talking about focusing your priorities. Now. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patient's kindnes, goodness, faithuless gentlemen, and self control. Galatians five,

twenty two, twenty three. Cross reference for your Bible study. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. The fruit of the spirit is joy, but the root of the spirit is priorities. What you are planted in what matters to me. This is Paul's message. He's writing back to the church that he founded in Philippi. He led that purple cloth dealer Lydia to the Lord, and the city was never the same. He got locked up with Silas in prison

in Philippi for preaching the gospel. Remember that story. Most people don't know that he is writing a letter to the same people who only have a church in their city because Paul was thrown in prison. Did you hear me? The only reason there is a book of Philippians is because Paul was thrown in prison. The only reason that he writes, I can do all things through Christ who

strengthens me Philippians four thirteen. Mountain was able to do. Wait, No, that's Ephesians three twenty Philippians four nineteen able to do And that's Ephesians three twenty two. What's the one in Philippians four nineteen, No, No. Four thirteen is I can do all things? Philippians for nineteen nineteen nineteen, I want, I want for nineteen I know what that through your prayers and God's provision. No Verse nineteen says, my God will supply all your needs. But yet Paul is saying,

I don't know how this ends. But yeah, he's saying, my God will supply all my needs. But I don't need to know how it ends. To know that I'm going to see the glory of God in the middle of it, some things I don't need to know. I don't need to know. That is why I am encouraging you to limit your intake of the news. You do not need to know everything up to the minute. Amen. You do not need to know the things that you cannot directly affect. You do not need to know all

the detail to take your next step. Just ask Abraham. You do not have to know the ten year plan for your life to give God your best today. You do not have to know how long until there is a vaccine for a virus. To praise God and worship God for the life that he has given you in this moment and releasing my need to know is the hardest thing because I thought that information was the key. But yet Paul says, there is a confidence that goes beneath knowledge. Let me sit back down because I got

more to say about this. In fact, I haven't even started my sermon yet, Paul said, because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters verse fourteen have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more. I'm gonna praise him all the more. Oh, thank you Devil for challenging my fate. It's gonna make me more grateful. Thank you Lord for pruning my branches. It's only gonna make me more fruitful. More fruit, more fruit, more fruit,

more fruit. I don't know who it's for, but you're gonna have more fruit, even if you got a little less money. Right now, I'm gonna bear more fruit. Somebody say more fruit, Come on, bring LB back next week. I need some help out here. More fruit, more fruit, more fruit in the chat, more fruit. Say it out of your mouth, more fruit. Because my roots are going deeper.

Because I'm humble and I'm open, and where I am not a closed system, God can sow the seed of his word and bring forth something that my mind could never conceive. Now it is true verse fifteen that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love. This is all the stuff Paul can't control. He's like, yeah, some people are talking about me. Yeah, there's some idiots out here. Yeah I got trolls too. Yeah. I just

block them and move on. Isn't it crazy how you just focus on the one thing that's against you. Do you do this too, or okay, pray for me? This is what I do. I focus. I have a thousand people say something nice to me, one person say something nasty, and I will. I will snuggle up to nasty. What am I doing? I'm being immateure that's immature. It means I'm not rooted enough yet in love to know that God is for me, who can be against me? Paul knew that. He knew that. He actually wrote that if

God is for me, who could be against me? So he knew it. He wrote it. He said it came from within him. He knew it because it came from within. I almost called this message. She hates when I do this, She says, just give it one title, don't give it the alternate titles. But here's the alternate title for this message. Prison sentence, Prison sentence, because we hang up Philippians four thirteen in a weight room. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Paul wrote that sentence in

a prison prison sentence. I wanted to know what's gonna come forth out of your life in this season of frustration. Prison sentence. I could do a whole series on prison sentences. It has a double meaning. I don't know how long I'm gonna be here, but I'm gonna bear some fruit while I do. I am like a tree planted by the streams of water. I don't know how long, but I know how high, how wide, how deep, how unsearchable is the love of Christ. I know that it is

beyond my comprehension. I do not know, but I know there's more fruit, more favor, more faith. So he said, I'm gonna ignore what I can't control. I'm going to ignore what I can't control. Yeah, but Paul, don't you need to be informed. You think you get informed by watching the news. You think you get informed by receiving fragmented information. No, no, no, Paul said, focus on the fruit, the fruit. You will know the tree by its fruit.

We should step all the way back real quick before we get to this really good part of the passage. I still haven't gotten to the good part. Man. I just feel like I know something that you don't know yet, and I can't wait to show you. But I know that you don't know yet. It's so good. It's so good, it's so good. But for now, let's go back a couple thousand years, real quick, let's go back to normal. Okay, everybody wants to get back to normal. Let's get back

to normal for a minute. Adam and Eve are naked in a garden and they can eat anything they want and they don't have to uber eat, to do or dash it. It's just there, and that was normal. It was normal. Some of us are so used to scarcity that abundance doesn't even feel normal to us, and when God brings it, we reject it because we've never known it before. Deeper, God will send someone to love us, but if they love us too much, we will push them away because we are not used to receiving fully,

and so we do what Adam and Eve did. Do you remember what they called the Tree of the Remember Abby, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of the knowledge of the knowledge. And do you remember what the snake told Eve? He said, you eat it, you'll be like God knowing the difference between good and evil. Y'all. They didn't get in trouble because God didn't like apples. They got in trouble because they lost focus of all the things God had given them to eat, of all

the choices that God has given us. Like we have a choice, how we spend this time? You made a good one today. You know all the crap you could be watching on YouTube and you're in church. Give yourself a clap hand emoji, just just right now, just to thank God. I made a good choice today, a quality choice today. I'm gonna plant myself by streams of water this week, not by stagnant cons of misinformation and speculation. So I'm gonna plant myself today. I'm getting my roots right.

That's what Holly said to me. She was going to the beauty shop. Remember beauty shop. She said, I'm gonna get my roots right. Put it in the chat. I'm getting my roots right. That's what I'm doing today. I'm getting my roots right. I'm getting my roots right. I'm getting my mind right, I'm getting my belief system right. I'm getting my priorities right. I'm finding out what really matters right now, I'm gonna do it in this prison cell. I'm gonna see something. God's gonna show me something. The

gospel is going to advance through this season. We're getting our roots right. And yet Adam and Eve they wanted to know. They wanted to be God. They wanted to know, they wanted to be God. Our need to know is what keeps us from receiving. That's what was so bad about that tree. Nobody even knows what fruit they ate. I hope it was delicious, because it really was expensive. He'd had to put her clothes back on. Just imagine Chris, how it could have been. I called this message option

number three. When naked was normal, Adam and even just walking around nothing to hide. It is what it is. We are who we are. We're loved by God. We walk with Him in the cool of the evening. We just take pluck what we want, just anytime we want. Just you know, naked was normal. Didn't have to hide behind fig leaves, didn't have to create a covering, didn't have to create a persona, didn't have to create a pretension of good behavior and pretend to be somebody that

you're not. Didn't have to try to bear somebody else's fruit with plastics, so you could be impressive to get people to like you, just walking around because God made me, because God breathed in me, because I am who God says I am. When naked was normal, When naked was normal. But now it's more normal for us to hide. It's more normal for us to hide, cover ourselves, compare ourselves. The first thing God asked Adam is the thing I want to ask you today. When Adam felt the shame. Remember,

Shame is what makes you cover. Shame is what makes you shrink. Shame is what makes you pull back. Shame is what makes you believe, well, maybe I better not try. Shame is what makes you start staying up in the middle of the night thinking that maybe it's all going to catch up with me. But Christ died to take away my shame. And yet the first thing Adam did when he believed a lie was to hide. And God said, and I want to say, who told you that you

were naked? Who told you that you were naked? Who told you that you had to do something else, or be something else, or have something else? Who told you that it took something extra for you to be accepted? Who told you that life has to be perfect for you to have a praise. Who told you that what you've known is what's normal? Who told you that question? Who told you that, yeah, well, I'm just not good with money. Who told you that, yeah, well, I'm just not very good with I'm just I'm a set, a

teenager free, I'm just not good with girls. Who told you that you could fake some swags so quick and have them lined up when the quarantine is over. I'm telling you right, Who told you that? Who told you that I'm just an introvert? This is the time where God is trying to get us to prune ourselves of perspectives that did not come from heaven. Who told you that? Did it come from God? See? Because in this season of my life, I have got the focus on what

he is speaking, prison sentences. I've got to let his word get in my life, my heart, my mind transformed by the renewing of my mind, not conformed by my situation. Watch this, transformed by my revelation. Situation revelation. Now, Paul saw it one way, y'all see chains, I see opportunity. Paul saw it one way, y'all see limitation. I see an opening. Paul saw it one way. Y'all see captivity, I see freedom. I see what God said, and I'll speak it over your life. Focus on the fruit. Focus

on the fruit, not the frustration. He could have spent every sentence in Philippius. How would Phlippians four thirteen be, I really have a headache right now and I'm sick of this. Would you quote Philippians four thirteen if he didn't focus on the fruit. He said, no, I'm going through stuff, but I can't do. What I went through showed me what I can't do because Christ is in me. Focus on the fruit. Because Paul said, I don't know,

I don't know. Isn't it funny how he's so used to call him the shots that he's still talking like he has a choice. When you've been in charge a long time, You know, my dad thought he could beat me up. When he was sick in his bed and he couldn't move, he still said, boy, I'll whip your so and so and stuff like that to me. I was I was walking around with muscles and stuff and he was laying in the bed. He was so used

to being bigger and stronger than me. Paul is almost like that he's waiting on a verdict do you live or die? And then look what he says and are you ready for verse verse seventeen. Okay, he said, the former christ have sef termpiation. I SI said this spose they served tim for me changed? What does it matter? What does it matter? What does it matter? What does it matter? What does it matter? What does it matter? What actually matters? When you get that clear, it'll set

you free. When you get that clear what actually matters? This? One woman told me the best parenting advice is don't spend your whole life chasing clean carpet, only to wish when your kids went to college that they could come back and mess it up one more time. She said her biggest regret was she spent her whole life chasing clean carpet. What actually matters? Do this in worship? Right? I don't care if you hit the note right. I care if the note hits your heart right. I don't

care if we have a mistake. I don't care. I don't care. Let me tell you about this sermon. I don't care if I'm grammatically correct. Who cares? I care if the spiritual fruit As a matter of fact, and this is this is probably this is Yeah. I'm gonna say I'm say I'm saying. I'm saying, I don't really care if you like this message. I don't care. I mean I do. I want Okay, I want you to like the message. I wouldn't post it on Instagram if I didn't want you to like it. That's literally how

the system works. But I care more if this message bears fruit in your life than if you like it. I hope you fight me today in your mind. How dare he say it doesn't matter this and that he doesn't know what I'm going through? No, I don't. That's why I'm so glad I called Paul to preach because Paul went through the stuff Paul went through that this isn't fair. Paul was trying to do right. I don't think anybody help people. I don't think anybody was smarter

than Paul. That's why I was so surprised. You said, I don't know. I'm like, what that's like one of my kids saying thank you. I'm like, what's happening right now? I said, the rapture can only imagine. But he said, I know what's important? Do you? Yeah? Most of us, don't most of us. It takes our whole life. What if this season is fast forwarding us into the correct priorities? Would it be worth it? Would it be worth it? What if we're going to get fifty years of wisdom

the fruit of a season of frustration. Can I show you something else? Paul said, go to Romans eight. Focus on the fruit. Or you can focus on all the things you don't know. You can spit ignorance with everybody else, conspiracy theories. I saw a UFO the other day. It barely even registered because the world is so screwed up right now. So you can, you can. You can focus on the UFOs, the the unknowable faith outcomes. I'm playing. I love y'all so much. I wish all we're here.

I wish we're here one day we'll get back together when I don't know. But in the in the meantime, let me speak. Let me speak this over your life, because Romans eight, how much do you want? Because I've got like ten verses and I got two verses, I can do it either way. Let's take a vote in the chat on a scale of tend to to how much of God's word do you want today ten ten two to ten two to ten. Man, you'll ot to

be sharing this message right now. You ought to be sharing this link right now, because see, the gospel can bear fruit only if it's sown. You got to share this message when it's over. We have other services all through the day. You got to tell somebody catch it when it comes on again. You need to You need to receive this word. That's how we sow the gospel. Okay, I only see tens block everybody who said to block them, Ban them from the chat, ban them from the chat,

kick them out the church. So Roomen's eight is really good for perspective. I consider verse eighteen that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Both are a focus suffering and glory at the same time. What do you want to focus on? The frustration or the fruit? I am convinced, I am persuaded. I have met aid up my mind that what I am going through is nothing compared to what is going to come forth from it, because I've

seen God do it before. Read the verses. Faster verdict for the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed, for the creation was subjected to frustration. But I'm not focused on the frustration. I'm not focused on the frustration. I'm not focused on the fear. I'm not even focused on the facts. Not of its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be

liberated from its bondage. Somebody shop, God is setting me free, free, free, free from the bondage of the kay and brought into the freedom and the glory of the children of God. You want me to keep going. This is good to me because we know, we know, we know some things. I just know something. I just know in my soul. Some things I can prove from a book, some things I can't google. Some things I can't get from the news, some things I can't learn from Twitter. Some things they

can't teach me in a classroom. But I know in my spirit that the whole creation has been groaning, as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. Not only so, but we areselves who have the first fruits. Fruits, fruits, fruits, fruits, fruits. Focus on what the fruit, the fruit of the spirit is what love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gu self control. What God is doing in me right now is setting me free from everything that doesn't look like him.

I got the first fruits, the first fruits, the first fruits, first fruits. What you focus on? Focus on the fruit. That's why I still tithe in a recession. You think I'm not going to bring back to God what he gave me. He is my source. And yet there's this groaning, there's this tearing, there's this, there's this groaning. He said that words can't explain. There's this, there's this tension, there's this unsettled there's this it's the three am stuff, it's

the three pm crash, it's another day of this. It's the I'm so sick of these people around me. And yet if I focus on the fruit, he said that my present suffering isn't even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed. Can I keep going? Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies, For in this hope we were saved Hope is a focused people, not

a feeling. Hope is a focus. Hope is a focus. Hope is a focus. I'm focusing on the fruit. I'm focusing on the character. Perseverance builds character, Focus on the fruit. Look what God is doing in you right now, He said, in this we hope even though we don't. We don't know. There's an instability in the world. There always has been. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. For who hopes for what they already have. See, if I know it, I don't have to hope for it.

That's where my faith grows. That's the soil. That's where the seed breaks apart. That's where you are right now. That's what God is doing in this season, Thank you Lord. But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently, the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not. No. Come on, Paul, come on, Paul, make it rhyme, make it ring, Come on, Paul, give me the facts. Come on, Paul, set it up. Come on, Paul, you can preach better than that. We

do not. No, that's the soil where hope springs forth and buds like faith and looks like resurrection. You alone, Lord, no if these bones can live. But in the same way Verse twenty six, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not no what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless grounds. I don't even know what to pray. God said, I'll take it from here. I'll finish the sentence. Paul's in prison. God said, I'll finish the sentence. Even if the devil

started it, I'll finish it. I'll finish it. I'll finish it. He began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit because God is helping me and he Verse twenty seven, who searches our hearts knows? He knows, He knows. You. Remember Jeremiah, they were in captivity to Babylon. He said, it's going to be seventy long years. But God said, I know the plans I have for you,

and you're not supposed to know them all. There are some things you're not supposed to know, because that's where faith grows, that's where hope grows, that's where maturity takes truth and the spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. Here comes my favorite verse, And we know. Have you ever heard Roumins eight twenty eight? Oh you can. You can put this anchor down in

the deepest water and get through the storm. That all things work together for the good of those that love God. Wait a minute, Wait a minute. That's where people stop. Finish the sentence. Somebody say, finish the sentence, like Paul in prison. I'm staying I'm not. Do you know that when Paul and Silas were in prison, the doors opened, but they didn't leave. Why we still got work to do. I'm gonna finish the sentence. I'm gonna see the goodness

of the Lord. Don't let the devil cuts you off now, don't let him speak fear while God is building faith. Finish the sentence, Finish the work, Be strong and courageous, take the land, for we know that all things work together for the good of those who love him. I don't know much, but I know I love you Lord. That may be all I need to know. I know I love you, I know I'm called, I know I'm appointed, I know you spoken, I know you're Abel. But finish

the sentence. All things work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. That's the fruit. Focus on the fruit, because if you don't focus on the fruit of what God is doing right now, you will die in the frustration as you wait. So I want to give you a choice, Paul said, I hadn't. I hadn't decided yet. What I want to do is like Paul, this is not Applebee's. There is no menu, y'all. Remember Applebee's. It was an American food chain that existed

before the plagues. Paul, this is not Morton's. You're not deciding steak or chicken. This is prison. Nobody's asking you if you want to live or die. Yet, Paul still had a choice. You still have a choice. The choice is your focus. Focus is always chosen. How are you going to start this week? How are you going to start this day? How are you going to start tomorrow? Where are you going to look at? Focus is chosen. That's the only thing you can control. That's the only

thing that will really create peace. In a storm, Peter didn't fall down when he got out the boat because the water out wetter. He didn't fall down because of strong wind. He fell down because of broken focus when he took his eyes off Jesus. Now that's what happens when we go by sight when we need to know too much. And give me Verse twenty one again, because I'm not done with this and I intend to mind every drop out of this word God gave me. Focus

on the fruit. If God is squeezing you right now, something productive is coming from it, I promise you it is for we know that all things work together for the good of those love God. But check this out. No, that's not the one. It's maybe twenty two. No no, no, it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No no no, go back, Go to the one before, Go to the one before. Yeah. The creation waits Romans eight nineteen. Is it on the screen?

The lower third? Read this with me. For the creation weights in eager expectation for the children of God to be reviewed. The creation waits for a revelation, waits eager expectation. What does that look like eager expectation? It doesn't look like certainty. The Greek word chunks is three words. Appo, kara, dokia, appo. Everybody say appo, not the dog food appo. Listen what it means. The prefix means to turn away, ignoring other interests. The English word is not trans you can't translate it

with one word. So they put eager expectation. Because there is no way to describe humanly the kind of hope that Paul had. You can't put it in just a word. He actually made his own word up, and you can only find it in early Christian literature. Nobody in the Empire, the Roman Empire said the word apple kara Dokia. Paul made it up. It was a prison sentence. It was something he could only get when he was going through. There is some fruit that can only be born when

you're going through. But you have to focus. Apple's the prefix, and I could preach a whole sermon on that prefix appo to turn away ignoring other interests. It means I have to choose my focus right now, moment by moment. What will I look at? Will I look at the waves? Or will I look at the one who created the waves and the wind? To subject to his word? What will I look at right now? If I look away from Jesus, I'm gonna fall. If I look at what it feels like, I'm gonna fall. If I look at

what I don't know. I'm going to go crazy. If I keep looking at my phone, I'm gonna fall. God show me something greater on the inside. Apple Kara Kara is simple. It just means head, which is significant, right. It's significant because the only thing you really control is what goes on in here. That's the only domain that I can control. Right now, you can't have my imagination, devil, you can't have my you can't have my meditation. I'm

not going to dwell on sentences of unworthiness. I'm not going to dwell on what was spoken over my life by people who didn't even like me. I'm not going to go off of what the world is saying. I've got a new mind. Don't you wish they made a mask for your mind? I would buy it, sell it, wear it, declare it. I put an elevation logo on. I'd make a fortune if I could keep all of the thoughts from coming out of my mind. But it doesn't work like that. You've got to focus. Watch this

appo Karadki a Dokia. Dokia is the most annointed part to me, because after I've turned away. That's why he said, the creation waits in apple Kara, Dokia. The only other time this word is in the Bible is in Philippians chapter one. That's the only other time it's in the Bible. When Paul was in prison, and if he looked at the chains that were on his hands, he'd get depressed, and if he looked at the situation he was in, he'd get depressed. So he said, I can't look at

that right now. Come on, close your eyes. You've been looking around too much. He said, I can't look at that right now. Apple, turn away, ignoring what I could focus on. I could focus on the pain, but I'm focused on the purpose. I could be petty, or I could give praise. I'm turning away from what I could complain about. I've got a reason to be grateful. Apple kara, head mine, Dokia. To stretch forward. Did you hear it?

Paul said, I'm looking forward. I don't know how long I'm gonna be here, but I'm looking forward to my fruit on the other side. I'm looking forward to glory. On the other side, I'm looking forward to a greater annoying thing, a brighter day, a peaceful heart. I'm looking forward to a purpose because i know not all things work together for the good them that love him. I love I've got a purpose. I know he's got a plan and I will said times. You better give it.

Fraggs and potes praising body. He's doing shoo to the ra Yes, yeah, please come on in a secret, you two. He's doing it right now, in your home, your heart, in your mind, You mar your side, you leave. Okay, this is the word of the Lord. You are in a season where you must focus on the fruit, your fruit. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, which will yield its fruit in season. All you gotta do in this season is yield your fruit,

and you will make it. You will see it now. Caution, if you focus on your fears, you can die on the other side of something that God had for you. You You really can. As a matter of fact, give me number thirteen, and I promise, y'all, I'll go eat a I'll go eat a scrambled egg or something somebody put. Focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. Y'all can't touch each other, but tell each other focus on the fruit. Focus on

the fruit. Don't touch your neighbor, not at your neighbor. Stretch your head towards your neighbor, like Apocara Dokia. Stretch your head. Come on, this is the new thing. We're going to replace the handshake in the hug with the head nod. All right, just head, nod your head right now. Nod your head right now. You see me, not not you. You You are gonna make it. You are going to come through. You are going to see it if you focus on the fruit. Because we've been preaching about Egypt.

Egypt is what they were leaving. When the children of Israel were focused on where they had left and what they had lost, that generation died in the wilderness. And here's why. Look at numbers, Chapter thirteen, verse twenty seven. They told Moses, the spies who went into the land, said, we went into the land which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Watch this stay right here. Here is its fruit. They were carrying a cluster of grapes on a pole. It took it took

Zeke and Brandan to carry the pole. Y'all like, y'all are carrying something between you right now, Just walk, don't come to close six feet six feet apart. This pole is six feet apart, and they walked and they walked, and they're telling, here's the fruit. Look at the next verse. This is sad. Look at it. It's a focus. It's so focused. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the descendants of any there. They were so focused

on what they had to fight. They were so focused on what they feared that they did not even eat the fruit that they carried. They were so focused. Duck and stop. Now that was excellent, thank you and promptu illustrations, quarantine sermons. God said, right now in this season, I need you focused on the fruit. Faith comes from focus, but so does fear. The land does flow, but you've got to focus. There is a flow, the administration of the Holy Spirit. Receive it through the screen. Right now.

There is a flow, but you need a focus. Here is it's fruit, but there's giants. But there's insecurities. But there's uncertainty. Are you really going to let what you don't know become greater than the God that you do you know him? Focus on that. God, show us the fruit, the grapes, the promises, the blessings enlarge in our minds the reasons that we have to have faith and help us Like Paul, maybe we can't move our feet or our hands like we want, but we can stretch our faith.

We thank you Lord that in this season, even if you are pruning our branches, we will be more fruitful on the other side. It's in Jesus' name that I pray everybody who receives this word, say amen, I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused. I'm focused. I'm turning my head away, no distractions. I'm focused on the fruit. God is doing a great work

in you. I don't know if you felt that like I felt it, but you can see my voices left the building. But I gave it all I had to preach that message focus on the fruit. That's easier said than done, but we can do it. We can sew to the spirit and just on this Bible. And I wanted to read you one more verse before we go. And Paul prayed one time in Philippians chapter one, verse nine that he prayed that your love may abound more

and more in knowledge and depth of insight. Verse eleven, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. And he thanks the Philippian Church for their partnership. You know many are just watching and consuming this content, many of your partners. You partner with us in prayer, you partner with us

in the gospel, you partner with us financially. I want to thank you for sowing the gospel is bearing fruit, like Colossians one says, because of your generosity, because of your trust. So thank you for your faithful giving in this time, for not holding back, for stretching the tent curtains wide so we can keep taking the gospel to people in this crazy time. And make sure that you

sow the seed of the word too. You know it really helps when you share the message and you share the link on social or even just text it to a friend or talk about it. That's one way we share the gospel. I want to thank you for your partnership. Make sure you subscribe. I want you to get every message that we have for you, and we're here preaching Jesus Christ, believing God for great things in your life. Thank you for being a partner. Love you